All Her Secrets

First Sight - Tyler

A/N: You may want to read the end of this chapter, I decided to have a little fun and change the ending slightly. But, again, the important information remains unchanged.

    Also, look out tomorrow for an extra little surprise!

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 Jackson was silent until we were about a hundred meters from the lake. He was never silent, unless I blocked him out, a rare occurrence.  

Jax? What are you thinking?

    Jackson slowed and stopped running, choosing to lay under a tall spruce tree. Setting our head on our paws and closing our eyes, he heaved a sigh. Her scent was so strong now, it was difficult to not continue going toward her. But he and I needed to talk.

I… Tyler… What if you’re right? What if she is human?

Jax… I-I don’t know.

Everyone knows that werewolves can’t have human mates… It- the process, it could kill her Ty.

Jackson never called me Ty anymore. He used to when I was younger when he was younger, but as we were trained to become Alpha, he stopped, slowly switching to just my full name.

We’ll figure it out, I mean, she’s our mate. As you said, she is perfect for us. Plus, Dad will help us find a way, or he might know of one already.

But… If she dies…

    Just the opening of his statement had me letting out a low whine. It wasn’t common, but when it happened, wolves whose mates had died violently would go feral, shifting and being too angry to shift back. They usually had to be drugged so their body could be retrieved, and even after they were human again, the loss was often too great. Many ended up committing suicide in that situation.

    Most mates died in their sleep, minutes from each other, after a long life of happiness together. It was peaceful and almost bearable when they left us.

You can’t think that way. Besides, we haven’t even met her. She must be strong to be a future Luna, I mean, it’s so very rare that an Alpha, or a future Alpha, is paired with a weak mate.

But, she’s human, Tyler!

We don’t know that Jackson. It’s possible that she just doesn’t smell like a wolf. Some don’t. Until she shifted for the first time, Taylor smelled like a human! Hell, Dad was worried that she might actually be one.

But, she’s got to be over 16 if she’s in college… Every wolf has their first Shift around 16, or even earlier.

Maybe she’s not in college. We are near a couple of smaller towns with high schools, and nowadays, colleges will let anyone who’s graduated high school in, no matter their age. Or maybe she’s just taking a couple of classes to get ahead. There are loads of options now.

You’re right. I’m being stupid.

No, you aren’t. These are real concerns, and yes, I’m terrified of the thought of having a human mate, but if she isn’t human then it’s not an issue.

    Heaving another sigh, Jackson stood and shook out our fur, opening our eyes to the forest once again. We began to walk toward the lake, knowing that if we came bursting through the underbrush, we might scare her.

    As we got closer to the treeline, Jax dropped our body into a crouch, moving silently through the grassy weeds and bushes. Circling from a distance, I felt his unease grow. We weren’t supposed to show ourselves to humans, or people who might be humans. Plus, wolves were naturally timid of humans, and Jackson was only different because he had me.

    Now that we were closer, I could smell another person with her. Poking our head out from the brambles, we caught a glimpse of a light-haired guy standing next to the girl who must be our mate. Taking some small breaths, and barely holding back Jackson’s growl, I could tell he smelled like laundry detergent and too much Axe body spray.

That’s attractive. 

    We flinched when his scent hit our nose, the junior high boys’ locker room smell was extreme. A twig popped beneath our paws when we flinched, and Jax took a hasty step back to avoid being seen by the boy, whose head had whipped around at the noise. “Nothing… Probably just a bird or something.”

And so clever. 

    Jackson rolled our eyes and took a gentle step forward, avoiding other twigs. Stopping our paw before we took another step closer, I had an idea.

Why don’t we go around and enter from the side? Besides, if I'm feeling thirsty after that run, you must be dying.

Good idea, and you are not wrong.

    Jackson backed us away from the edge, quick and silent as Dad had taught us. Running quickly around a quarter of the lake, we didn’t stop until we were about fifty yards away from them, a good viewing distance that I was almost certain they wouldn’t come closer to Jackson’s body. Everyone knows that wolves are skittish.

    Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Jackson had me take over, saying:

I-I-I can’t! If she were alone… maybe but, she’s a stranger and with another human. 

I rolled our eyes and chuckled silently, replying with, I have the most skittish Alpha wolf ever. Are we certain you're an Alpha, Jax?

Shut up, Tyler.

    Taking slow, careful steps out from the brush, I froze and looked over when I heard gasps coming from the two humans. The boy looked at her hands, which were moving quickly through motions that clearly meant something to him, and then said: “If by that you mean, do I see the large wolf that’s staring at us right now, then yes.” Jackson whined, and I let it go, hoping they would stop staring. Still looking at them every few seconds, I walked into the lake to clean our paws and muzzle, which had some of the deer’s blood smeared into the fur.

    “Oh, no, that’s a he. And probably and Alpha, or a Beta by his size. A beautiful wolf… I wonder since he was brave enough to come out when we were here…” I had dipped my head to drink, and let the boy walk about ten feet forward before snapping up and growling. When he took a few steps back, I brought a paw up to bite at the stuck on blood and dirt.

    I saw my mate, with her much darker hair tied back, looking directly at me. Though I was entranced by her appearance, I wondered if there was something wrong with one of her eyes, as it looked much lighter than the other. She was doing something with her hands again, but I couldn’t tell what she was doing, so I bent my head to clean my muzzle. “I wouldn’t but, I’m probably not going to convince you so go ahead. I’ll be shocked if he lets you get any closer.”

    The boy spoke louder than he had before, and Jackson jumped before taking a step back and whimpering.

I would let her get as close as she wants you prick. But, damn! That hurt!

Tyler, be careful…

    My mate made obvious “quiet down” motions, and began to take a step forward while looking at her feet with her head turned slightly to the side, which showed her neck. I looked directly at her, straightening my back and placing my right two paws slightly forward, ready to run if it was necessary.

At least she already knows how to show submission.

But is that a good thing, Ty?

We’ll just have to find out I guess.

    “Pigeon, I wouldn’t-” the boy began before receiving a hand facing him, though I couldn’t tell if she was moving it or not. After moving closer and closer to me, she stopped about ten feet away before getting on her knees and continuing to look down. 

Tyler, please, we’re too close! Let’s just go! I know she’s our mate, but Tyler please let’s go!

Jackson, please, shut up. I know what I’m doing.

    Stepping forward slowly, I closed the distance between us. Placing my right fore-paw in front of my others, almost touching her knee, I lowered my head in a show of respect. From this angle, I could see her eyebrows were raised in shock. Lifting my head, I brushed my nose against her forehead, just enough for her to raise her own head.

    A zing of connection shot through our blood, and I felt Jackson calm slightly before remembering why we were panicking in the first place. 

Why did you do that?!

She knows our customs. I’m respecting her, the way she showed it to us. Now hush.

Tyler, I really really do not like this.

Jackson, you’ve really really made that point clear.

     I knew that she felt the same spark from my touch that I had felt from hers, I could see it in a widening of her eyes and suddenly deep gasp. Her breathing became shallow and quick as she met my eyes. Looking closely at her, I couldn’t tell what color hers were, they were both a muddled grey color, but her left was distinctly lighter than her right. Slowly, she raised her hand to place it on me, leaving it to hover over the tips of our cotton colored fur. My heart was pounding, and I didn't dare move. I wanted her to run her hands through my fur, and I wanted to know how a true touch from her, my mate, would feel.

    That’s when Jackson broke through my control, backing us away by a couple of steps.

    It was then that I noticed the boy had come much closer, just about a foot further from her, and I retook control, glaring at him before growling deeply. Pigeon, our mate, turned around quickly, taking in his proximity with widened eyes before moving her hand furiously and storming off into the woods.

    "Ugh, Pigeon, wait up! I was just curious! Abby back me up here!" the boy called out, and that's when it occurred to both Jackson and I that there was a third person.

    A third person with a giant camera pointed directly at Jackson's body. 

A CAMERA!? What the f**k!? Who takes a f*****g camera into the WOODS?!

Tyler, we need to get out of here!

Rodger that.

   Boosting Jackson's natural speed with some concentration, we took off, jumping over fallen logs and dodging clumps of thorny bushes. We ran until not even Jackson's superior hearing could pick up any echoing footsteps or remnants of voices. 

    Allowing Jackson to take the wheel, so to speak, I allowed my mind to wander just a little bit, imagining what it would have felt like if Pigeon had touched us as Jax followed an older path back to the truck.